While I understand the Bartolo signing and agree it is not a bad risk, however if you had to offer Livan $2 M or Bartolo $1 M, which would you prefer?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Bartolo.

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good god that's a no-brainer. bartolo.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Livan will give you 200 bad innings. Bartolo may only give you 50 good ones. I'll take my chances with Colon. If that spot fails, it will be in the hands of a rookie by August anyway.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

August? If he's that bad, I hope they pull the plug on him earlier.

That said, I will be more than satisfied if he goes say 25 starts, or 10-10 with an ERA in the low 4's, I'll take that out of a 5th starter.

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Between those 2 I would go with Colon. But if it were me I would have probably passed on both and taken a chance on Freddy Garcia.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Bartolo, and if you HAVE to have a Hernandez brother, I'll take El Duque.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I think both Bartolo Colon & Livan Hernandez are out of shape and in poor condition! I'd rather have "El Duque" and that leg kick of his...

Good luck with that. You basically described league average, and very few 5th starters are league average, especially those who are severe injury risks. Your scenario makes Kenny look like a genius with this deal. I sincerely hope this is true, but I doubt it just the same.

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But he's not. Its all luck. Just ask bigfan

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Turning Joe Borchard into Matt Thornton is sheer genius. David Wells was not very good for the Sox, but he was traded for Mike Sirotka, who never pitched in the big leagues again after that transaction.

Good try though paul

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Frank, did you read any of the other words in my response? You're smoking something fierce if you expect the line from Bart C. that you threw out there. That's his ceiling, and it's very, very high from where he's at right now.

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I think if he can stay healthy, he can win 10 games with an ERA at say 4.40

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Never mind the fact that he can barely top 90 on a radar gun. Speed isn't everything but changing speeds certainly was that guy's bread and butter when he was going well.

10 wins and a 4.40 ERA is a pipe dream for a 5th starter. It can happen, but to "expect" that is to set yourself up for a huge letdown.

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i think schuler drafted big joe.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

List those 10 Gm's and I'll give you trades they made that didn't work out. It is very telling that you have to go back to '00 and '01 for examples of Kenny's bad trades.

Ritchie, Welles, Borchard are just the ones that didn't work out. I don't blame Kenny for that.

The one you can go after Kenny for is Brian Anderson. You could not get a better look at a kid. From High School, to U of A.

Kenny might have actually seen too much of the kid and convinced himself he was great.

You could say he is the Sox Corey Patterson. Which I would still take over Anderson if I ma taking a 4th or 5th OF. Late inning replacement, SB guy and some power. Patterson has had some GREAT stretches in the Majors. From his first half of his rookie season, to a an amazing SB stretch in Baltimore and even the first month of last year for Dusty. He is a guy you ride for a while and then shut him down.,

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Somebody please explain to me how the David Wells deal was bad? Was Boomer good for the Sox? Not very. But yet again I will bring this to everybody's attention. Mike Sirotka never threw a pitch in MLB after that trade! So, it was Boomer Wells for reliever Kevin Biernen who, iirc, didn't appear in more than 10 games for the Blue Jays. And even a healthy, dominant Wells would not have helped the 2001 Sox who were decimated by injuries.

Wow, what a horrible move!

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Colon: 4.1 IP, 2H, 0R, 4K, Hit 90 or 91 on the gun today

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Then you have nothing to worry about and all is well. There should be no excuses for not winning the division with by far the best staff in the divsion.

What did Contreras do today?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Come on Frank, seriously? He hit 91 once and was 87 all day. He'll get his shit handed to him the next time out then get shown the door. He's toast.

No. Though, if he could give the Sox like 3 good starts before Memorial Day, that could be nice.

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Jason Marquis with the Chicago Cubs:

2007 12 wins, 9 losses 191 innins pitched 4.60 ERA

2008 11 wins 9 losses 167 innings pitched 4.53 ERA

Pretty much the kind of stats Frank was calling for. If you do not believe Colon can pitch as well as Marquis did the past 2 seasons, you really do not expect much from him.

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Go Cubs!!!!

I would be happy with a 5th starter that takes the bump every 5th game, pitches into the 6th inning, and gives up 3 or fewer runs more times than not.

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The world has righted itself, Frank.


Colon: 4.0 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Not that I'm penciling him in for 12 or 15 wins, but today was certainly promising from Bartolo.

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Bartolo, Livan and Frank, what do these three have in common?

Rub a dub dub, three chubs in a tub...

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

The first time through the rotation and Colon is the only starter with a win. I would've lost a lot of money on that bet.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Not ready to concede anything after one decent start, especially as he let up a few long fly-outs that, thankfully, stayed in play on a chilly day in April. If he pitches that way in June, light 'em up. I don't want to see that many flyballs let up by any pitcher, especially at US Cellular.

THAT SAID, glad he kept it together and pulled out a W. As much as I doubt Frank's optimism, I do hope that he's right.

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